Final Post

So I just got back to LA after three days in Bombay and nearly three weeks total in India for the first time in 16 years. I had such an AMAZING time. I loved the food, the culture, the people, the history, the place-- all of it.

Bombay was a good time. We were really just there to shop, and Bombay is definitely the best place for that. And thanks to the rich family, we had our own personal driver for the whole time. But the city is SO crowded. There are people everywhere. And in such a small area. They haven't mastered the use of taller buildings or underground parking. I don't think I could live there, mainly because of all of the congestion. There's definitely an effort to improve roads and infrastructure, but a lot of roads just don't seem like they can get any wider. And the number of people with cars keeps going up...

Something that I thought about a bit during my trip was my identity as an Indian American. My younger cousins kept telling me not to even try talking in Hindi because I just sounded funny. And when I called myself an "Indian girl" to the German, my older cousin said that I wasn't Indian, I was American! But in America, I don't really feel like an American-- people always ask me "what" I am and I always check off "Indian" or "Asian" on forms. My cousin told me that I was "ABCD"-- an "American-Born Confused Desi." (Desi is another word for an Indian.) I'd never really thought about this before, but now that I have, I am definitely confused...

That's it for me... Thanks for reading!